Help with CALIBRE please

[802384384]

Hello there,

I'm after a little guidence please. I've been using CALIBRE to manage my books for a year or so and upgraded to each new version as it came along, I recently upgarded to V0.8.38 the latested release, I then decided that I'd install several additiona plugins.

I'm now seeing a change to how the books are display when I select a particular author. Instead of seeing a list of the selected authors only, I now see the all the authors with the particular one I want high-lighted in green.

I much prefered to see only the authors I'd selected. As I could then sort then by title series etc Presumably there's a setting or plugin that's responsing, I just can't find it.

As a last resort I could uninstall and remove any residual plugin folders etc and do a clean install.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

PS For anyone who has a ebook collection I'd fully recommend this program to them.

[802384384]

Originally Posted by 802384384

Hello there,

I'm after a little guidence please. I've been using CALIBRE to manage my books for a year or so and upgraded to each new version as it came along, I recently upgarded to V0.8.38 the latested release, I then decided that I'd install several additiona plugins.

I'm now seeing a change to how the books are display when I select a particular author. Instead of seeing a list of the selected authors only, I now see the all the authors with the particular one I want high-lighted in green.

I much prefered to see only the authors I'd selected. As I could then sort then by title series etc Presumably there's a setting or plugin that's responsing, I just can't find it.

As a last resort I could uninstall and remove any residual plugin folders etc and do a clean install.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

PS For anyone who has a ebook collection I'd fully recommend this program to them.

Hello All,

2 mins after posting I found the option to revert this back under the preference tab , changing calibre behaviour, then selecting the search option and unchecking the Highlight search results instead of restricting book list to the results.

Hope this helps others.

[dmcd]

I did your little online exercise but have just realised that I made no mention in my comments on the web page, about the confusion caused by preferences that require coding being available on the same screen as the basic preferences.

Now I've only been using Calibre for a few weeks, so the things that I found/find confusing are fresh in my mind. In another month I'll be so familiar with it that I will not notice or remember the "new user" problems.

I'm no spring chicken and I couldn't even begin to programme anything as I'm sure my left brain has atrophied from lack of use. I'm very much a right brain dominant person. What I also am though, is a computer literate, above average intelligence, user. Which does not make me the norm for an average Calibre user, yet I'm still often bogged down in confusion.

For example, the "Add Books" preferences waltz off into advanced stuff like manually coding Regular Expression This stuff should be buried under an "Advanced" Tab, not wafted in basic user's faces. There are lots of similar examples and they should all be buried under Advanced buttons to cut down on the panic attacks.

Even if the coding options could be automated for Joe Average, they should still be nestled out of sight under an 'Advanced" options button. The whole box and dice laid open for instant scrutiny is what is causing the adverse comments from would-be users.

Joe Average wants to open it fresh out of the box with all the most useful options already enabled so that he doesn't have to learn anything, make choices or even think!

Thanks for your work and that of the other developers and plugin tweakers. Calibre is a terrific piece of software as it stands, but it could be even better if you cater to the lowest common denominator. Remember - humans are basically as thick as bricks. New stuff, right in their face, sends them into a spin. Just think about the average IQ score. Then think about the fact that 50% of the population have an IQ below that average. It's a sobering thought huh?


Dale
(For whom senile dementia is looming.)

[theducks]

Originally Posted by dmcd

I did your little online exercise but have just realised that I made no mention in my comments on the web page, about the confusion caused by preferences that require coding being available on the same screen as the basic preferences.

Now I've only been using Calibre for a few weeks, so the things that I found/find confusing are fresh in my mind. In another month I'll be so familiar with it that I will not notice or remember the "new user" problems.

I'm no spring chicken and I couldn't even begin to programme anything as I'm sure my left brain has atrophied from lack of use. I'm very much a right brain dominant person. What I also am though, is a computer literate, above average intelligence, user. Which does not make me the norm for an average Calibre user, yet I'm still often bogged down in confusion.

For example, the "Add Books" preferences waltz off into advanced stuff like manually coding Regular Expression This stuff should be buried under an "Advanced" Tab, not wafted in basic user's faces. There are lots of similar examples and they should all be buried under Advanced buttons to cut down on the panic attacks.

Even if the coding options could be automated for Joe Average, they should still be nestled out of sight under an 'Advanced" options button. The whole box and dice laid open for instant scrutiny is what is causing the adverse comments from would-be users.

Joe Average wants to open it fresh out of the box with all the most useful options already enabled so that he doesn't have to learn anything, make choices or even think!

Thanks for your work and that of the other developers and plugin tweakers. Calibre is a terrific piece of software as it stands, but it could be even better if you cater to the lowest common denominator. Remember - humans are basically as thick as bricks. New stuff, right in their face, sends them into a spin. Just think about the average IQ score. Then think about the fact that 50% of the population have an IQ below that average. It's a sobering thought huh?


Dale
(For whom senile dementia is looming.)

Unfortunately, that REGEX is near the front because it needs to be tweaked handle all variations of file naming people use.

[dmcd]

My god, I am absolutely stunned at this. Stunned and horrified!! No wonder people try Calibre and then decide it's too complex!

Why should it be tweaked? Why should a new user be expected to turn into an instant programmer? I don't see "Beta" anywhere on the download links.

I haven't tweaked this Regular Expressions thing yet as I'm bound to stuff it up. I have other skills - writing programming language is not one of them and I don't want to learn to do this. I want to click menus and buttons and have everything happen automatically. I'm not a programmer I'm an average computer user! I don't have to go under the hood and into the bowels of a terrific free programme like FastStone Viewer to get it to do what I wish. (I did initially use Photoshop as the analogy, and then thought of the pricetag attached to it.)

I have acquired a very mottly collection of ebook titles. I change the title names before I even start to try to import them. I miss a few buried in sub folders and I keep getting file name length warnings so hunt them down and shorten the names. One has little choice for the file path length: C:\Documents and Settings\User name\My Documents\E-books\Library name\ and then the book title. Doesn't leave many characters left for the book title and that is just about all that is optional in the path in Windows at least. I'm finding some morons that make ebooks append the whole synopsis to the book name.

Is this what you mean about needing to change this "thing" called Regular Expressions and make me try and write programming hieroglyphics? See? I still don't know what the actual purpose is of this option! I bailed out on the attached tutorial link because it made my head hurt and I became angry that I should be expected to cope with this. Bury the damn thing where it will not terrify me at my first apprehensive excursion into the Preferences.

My vocabulary is quite large. In fact my head is about chockers with words and their meanings in three languages. There is no room left in there for a whole new language. I don't want to know about new terms I've never struck before in my life. I'm too bloody old and/or stupid to bother. I just want to use a piece of software to do the things I need to do without straining too much to achieve this.

That option dealing with strange terms like Regular Expressions still should be under an advanced tab. It is not something the average user should be expected to deal with at any time if they do not choose to do so.....and that goes for the rest of those obscure input fields littered throughout the options.

Somebody has to either make some rules for input data and throw up clear, concise warnings if they try and bend these rules, or solve the problem behind the scenes without direct user input. These warnings should be in plain language and not "programmer's speak". What other popular software makes the user programme it by inputting an unknown language (Python?) before it will perform correctly? No wonder Calibre is getting a bad name for being unpleasant to use and too difficult to learn.

You guys are too close to the development of this software to look at it objectively from the ordinary user's point of view. I'm not being unappreciative and mean here. I'm just trying to remove the blinkers that are obscuring your under developed, much needed objectivity.

Only trying to get all of you to look at the problems from a laypersons perspective. I wouldn't bother if I didn't think Calibre was approaching perfection.

Dale
Playing Devil's Advocate - and who really thinks Calibre an amazing piece of software that could be just a bit more user friendly.

[cybmole]

you can completely ignore regex unless you plan to mess with book contents during conversions, or you have a problem with how author . title names are handled.

calibre will handle yoru book collection management just fine without you going near the r word!
stick to add books, send (books) to.... it works VERY well at that basic level

[plib]

I have a question concerning how author sort is handled. Is it possible to have the author folders on disk sort Surname, FirstName i.e.

G:\Calibre\Weber, David

rather than:

G:\Calibre\David Weber

I prefer that to wading through 10 Davids to get to the right folder. Also if I make a Preferences change to set it up like that is it possible to have it rename all the existing folders, or will it just work on new folders created after the change?

I haven't found an obvious way to do this in the prefs, will it require a Regex change?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by plib

I have a question concerning how author sort is handled. Is it possible to have the author folders on disk sort Surname, FirstName i.e.

G:\Calibre\Weber, David

rather than:

G:\Calibre\David Weber

I prefer that to wading through 10 Davids to get to the right folder. Also if I make a Preferences change to set it up like that is it possible to have it rename all the existing folders, or will it just work on new folders created after the change?

I haven't found an obvious way to do this in the prefs, will it require a Regex change?

NO!
You would have known this if you had bothered to read the stickies at the top of each forum, especially this one: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=119175
There is Zero reason to be messing about under Calibre's skirts (at least for a Novice). Calibre will export selected books at a click of a button.

[plib]

Originally Posted by theducks

NO!
You would have known this if you had bothered to read the stickies at the top of each forum, especially this one: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=119175
There is Zero reason to be messing about under Calibre's skirts (at least for a Novice). Calibre will export selected books at a click of a button.

I didn't say I wanted to mess about under Calibre's skirts, however I do find myself occasionally wanting to look up her skirts, and the FN LN folder structure is counterintuitive and frustrating. However thanks for the referenced thread, there was actually a poster in that who came up with a constructive suggestion which might be a solution if I want to implement it.

[theducks]

What is counter intuitive about finding David Weber under David Weber.

If it was 'On Basilisk Station', I might see your problem

[plib]

I expect to find On Basilisk Station under David Weber, it's just that I instinctively mentally classify it as Weber, David. If I go to the library to get a dead tree copy of it I don't go to the A-D section, I go to the U-Z section. So scrolling down David Baldacci, David Brin, David Eddings, David Hagberg, David Gemmell, David Lang, David Stone, etc. to get to David Weber is annoying, as I have to rethink my eyeball search and move my search laterally to the surname. It gets to be even more fun with John Steinbeck! ;-)

I'd just find Weber, David and Steinbeck, John more user friendly. There's a lot more distinctiveness in surnames than first names!

[cybmole]

so let calibre find the author then click on open path ( below the book cover picture) to access a particular file, directly.

[plib]

I don't want to access a particular file directly. What I'm actually doing at the moment is comparing the Baen CDs to what I have already imported for each author. If I haven't imported it I copy it from the CD folder to an "Import" folder and then I'll do a bulk import. Thanks to Total Commander (the best file manager on the planet) I can do a two pane folder compare and then copy from the CD folder to the "Import" folder tab very easily. TC also allows me to jump between the author folders in the Calibre library by just tapping the first letter of the folder.

So far the slowest, or at least most annoying, step in the process is getting to the author folder in the library. As there are 24 CDs in the collection I was looking for a way to change that. Guess I'm not going to get it. Judging by some of the other threads I've found I'm not the only one who'd like LN, FN library folders. It would be nice to at least have that as a straightforward option rather than awkward workarounds.

[kiwidude]

You can have LN_ FN folders if you change your names to display inside calibre as LN, FN rather than FN LN format. See the help for the directions on how to do that if you go down that road.

[transmitthis]

@dmcd
I totally agree with what your saying, and actually tried to bring it up in the forum too, when I first arrived here, as do many others
Even suggested a small redesign with most of the advanced options kept away in an Advanced tab/section. and the rest be made more simple.

But there are a lot of advanced users / programmers on this forum, and I imagine its difficult for them to see that having (*)\)) etc in the search for example is out of the ordinary. see nothing wrong with having python script visible when making a user column or custom search etc

There is a reason there are many posts about a more simplistic user interface, and weekly posts about people not being able to display Author - Title in the way they want, or why there are numbers after the folder names, and why when Calibre pops up around the web, it gets reviews as very good but with a poor/complicated interface.

I wish you luck if you intend to try and help with the cleanup of the interface, I'm just going to sit over there, as I can see it being really frustrating, and I'm too old